10.25% Sales Tax!

On April 1st the State of California will increase the sales tax rate 1%. This tax increase will put the Los Angeles County sales tax rate at 9.25%. The worst hit cities are Pico Rivera and the City of South Gate, both of whom will now see a 10.25% sales tax rate.

It makes no sense to me that these two cities are paying the highest tax rates in the state. These areas are desperately poor and they have some of the worst infrastructure in the Los Angeles County area. It is hard not to think like a supplysider when I see this type of thing occurring.

Meanwhile, here in a Republican Orange County, we have one of the lower sales tax rates at 8.75% and the County is much more affluent and functioning. It would be foolish of me to correlate the tax rate to the productivity of a geographic area, maybe it's just a coincidence.

Here is a run-down of some of the increased tax rates:

Republican Counties
Orange County 8.75%
Kern County 8.25%
San Joaquin County 8.75%
Riverside County 8.75%
Merced County 8.25%

Democratic Counties
San Francisco County 9.50%
Los Angeles County 9.25%
Alameda County 9.75%
Santa Cruz County 9.00%
Contra Costa County 9.25%
Marin County 9.00%





http://www.boe.ca.gov/news/pdf/l212b.pdf